


Dangan Ronpa- Killing School Reunion

by Makibuki, ThatOneTwistedBanana



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, Gen, Major Character Undeath, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-07-02 00:29:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15785247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Makibuki/pseuds/Makibuki, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOneTwistedBanana/pseuds/ThatOneTwistedBanana
Summary: Makoto Naegi wakes up in a very familiar room.The people and places he sees around seem almost like a reunion.All the survivors of previous Killing School Semesters gathered in one place, none of them have any clue how they got there...





	1. Prologue - Hope's Peak Reunion (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Me and my friend Alex spent a lot of time on this! If you want to find us, you can do it on tumblr, ThatOneTwistedBanana and gameramami respectively! I hope you enjoy!

I woke up to the feeling of cold wood against my cheek. It was a familiar feeling, one that forced me to jolt my head upwards and survey my surroundings. As I raised my head, the familiar feeling became a sickly churning in the pit of my stomach. The nausea set in soon enough once my eyes slowly crawled their way around the room, taking every piece of information in, the walls, the rows of desks and, worst of all, the camera that was transfixed on me.

 

I stood up and began to walk towards the front of the room, where every suspicion that I had was confirmed the moment I saw a familiar leaflet lying on what would be the teacher's desk. A lazy, child-like scrawl brought me even further into my past, reminding me of the horror that once began in this very room. The pamphlet read “Hey there, new kid!” and it took every inch of my willpower to keep myself from collapsing.

  
  
“Is this… Is this some kind of sick joke?!” I screamed, propping myself up against the wall to ensure that I remained stable. I slowly made my way to the door, my hand shaking violently as I reached for the handle.

  
  
I pulled the door open slowly, my eyes shut tightly and my heart in my throat. I opened my eyes slowly, hoping when they opened I wouldn’t have found myself trapped in the halls that once forced me into despair many years ago. As my eyes opened, the slight glimmer of hope got snuffed out and replaced with a feeling of fear and desperation. Stepping out of the classroom, the familiar chill of the hallways slowly slivered its way up my spine, causing me to sink even further into fear.

  
  
Slowly, I make my way down the hall, propping myself up against the wall to avoid fainting. The halls brought with them a slight feeling of nostalgia, albeit definitely not one that I ever wanted to be reminded of again. The purple hue of the lights made me sick to my stomach and forced memories to the forefront of my mind that had been buried for many years.

  
  
“I guess…. I’ll head to the entrance hall…” I whisper to myself. “I figure if they’re sticking this close to tradition, I might as well..”

  
  
The purple light gradually faded into a green colour as I got closer and closer to the entrance hall, almost as if everything had been meticulously planned to bring me back to the Killing Semester. “Whoever did this clearly analysed the footage…” I whispered to myself.

  
  
I approached the entrance hall door, my heart in my throat, and I half-expected to see the familiar faces of the 78th class facing back at me when I pushed open the door.

 

“Finally. Where the hell were you?” A familiar voice suddenly asked, as I came to take in my surroundings. It was the familiar entrance hall from my own semester of despair, yet it seemed… different, somehow. “Are you seriously just going to keep standing around? At a time like this?!” The voice spoke again, my eyes quickly focusing on the source of it. Byakuya Togami, Ultimate Heir.

 

I quickly scanned over the others standing at the entrance. Including myself, it made a total of fourteen students. The survivors of my own class… the awoken Remnants of Despair… and three faces that only held a vague familiarity in my mind.

 

“Anyways, now that you’re here, you can help with the interrogation.” Byakuya stated matter-of-factly, drawing a panicked rebuttal from a certain pink-haired mechanic. “H-Hey! We came out of the program just fine! We’re as confused as all you guys, too!”

 

“Everyone, calm down.” A more collected, patient voice quickly called out, belonging to Kyoko. “This new situation may seem confusing, but a discussion I had with Shuichi brought up a few notable points.” One of the less familiar students, a fairly timid-looking boy with a black baseball cap stepped forwards. “She’s right. Consider how we only have fourteen of us here, right? I don’t wanna jinx anything, but… if we somehow ended up in another killing game, that’s not enough students for one, right?”

 

“Not only that, but… The entrance to the school seems to be left unlocked for us this time.” Kyoko would note, showing a small remote control.

 

“Well, what the hell’re we waiting for? Just open it up, and we can get outta here again, right?” An impatient voice would suddenly ask, belonging to Akane.

 

“...I still don’t trust how easy this is.” A shorter girl with two shockingly lengthy pigtails mumbled, as Kyoko quickly used the remote to activate the door. As the sides of the entrance slowly split apart, and the light of the outside world began to pour in…

 

We came face to face with a cage. A gigantic, glass cage, encompassing the whole of the outside of the school. “W-What…” I could barely speak as I looked outside, dashing out into the courtyard to gaze up, in any direction, looking anywhere for somewhere to escape.

 

“Nyeh… not again…” A drained, tired voice whined, as a small commotion started among all of the other students.

 

“Well, hey… this can’t be too bad, right? Sure, we’re locked up again, but we’re still lacking in participants for a killing game, and we don’t have to worry about anyone breakin’ in to kill us, right?” Yasuhiro chimed in, proudly placing his hands on his hips. “We’re gonna make this place the site of a cooler Future Foundation, with blackjack, and… well, probably just blackjack!”

 

Just after the clairvoyant finished his misguided, yet oddly motivating speech, he'd quickly jump screaming as a loud crackling suddenly came over the intercoms scattered about the school grounds. “...Tes...g, Testing, o… ne, two, one, two!” A voice spoke through the coms, becoming clearer each second, as my hope for the situation fell in turn with it. The voice that made my life, and the lives of my friends complete hell some years ago. The voice of Monokuma.

 

“There we goooooo~! Now, ahem… attention, remaining classes of Hope’s Peak academy! You may be wondering why I've brought you all here today.” Monokuma began, leaving a pause for suspense. “...Wow, tough crowd. Anywho, I’m proud to finally announce a very special game for you all! That's right, a very special Killing Game!” The bear revealed, instantly causing a panic in the crowd.

 

“Um, b-but… Did Kyoko not mention that we do not have enough participants for one?” A clear voice would finally ask, belonging to the Novoselian Princess. “Puhuhuhu… about that, I’ve got a very special surprise for you all! To the gym now, quickly, quickly!” The loudspeakers demanded, before quickly cutting out once again.

 

“A special… surprise?” A handful of people murmured, concern over the meaning of that growing among the group. My own throat tightened at the mention as well, countless thoughts swimming through my head. There couldn't be anyone else, right? Every survivor of all three killing games was here and accounted for.

 

“Can none of you babbling idiots just shut up and follow orders?” Byakuya chimed in, heading back into the school. “We all know what’s coming. And the sooner we go to the gym, the sooner we get this over with.” The heir explained, the majority of us quickly following his actions. Filled with endless dread for the future, I’d weakly allow my legs to carry me there, following everyone to the school gym.


	2. Prologue - Hope's Peak Reunion (End)

The entrance to the gym was the same as I remembered it, the glass display cases full of trophies, medals and memorabilia from Hope’s Peak’s glory days. I scanned the shelves carefully, making sure to take in all in the information I could, stopping when I reach the katana. The katana that led to… her death. I shook off the memories that came creeping to the forefront of my mind and followed the others into the gym.   


  
At first, the gym was mostly empty, save for the baskets of volleyballs scattered around the room. “God, can this just hurry up and get over with? We all know how this is going to go.” Byakuya yelled, stamping his foot against the floor in frustration. “We all know that the shitty bear is going to pop up and announce the start of the killing game to all of us.” He wasn’t wrong, and every person in the room knew it. We had all been through this before, after all.   


  
“Maybe this time will be different... Maybe this is all just some big joke?” The shy detective stated with confidence, before covering his eyes slightly with the rim of his hat.   


  
“A joke? Don’t make me laugh, worm.” Byakuya turned to face him, finger outstretched and pointed directly at him. “You really think someone would go this far for a simple joke?”   


  
“N-no, I guess you’re right.” Shuichi whispered while scratching his cheek lightly.   


  
“Exactly. Who gave you your detective’s license again? Did you find it online?” Byakuya’s relentless attack made Shuichi shudder a little. He looked as though he was working on a response, but he lowered his head once again.   


 

Maki, who up until this point had been silently observing this dispute, stepped forward and grabbed Byakuya’s tie. “Don’t you  _ ever _ say that to him.” The look in her eyes was unlike anything I’d ever seen.

  
  
“Or what? You really think you could even dream of being capable of damaging me?” Byakuya’s smug grin didn’t fade, and he stood with his arms crossed. Maki raised her arm in preparation to strike him, before being interrupted by a voice that pierces the entire room.

  
  
“Puhuhuhu~ So glad that you could all make it!” Everyone turned to face the podium, only to be shocked to find that there is nothing there. “Behind you, morons!” We all turned yet again to see Monokuma, as short as always, dragging a wriggling, hempen sack across the floor with a great amount of effort.

  
  
“So, are you all ready for your surprise? Puhu~” The bear walked into the center of all of us and un-tied the sack. “Why don’t you give them a little help? Puhuhu~ I think they’re gonna need it!”

  
  
None of us stepped forward. We were all frozen in place out of fear. “Wow, youths today… They won’t even help their own classmate when they’re in need… Heartbreaking!” Monokuma reached into the bag, grabbing whoever (or whatever) was inside by its feet and dragging it out forcefully, getting kicked a couple times in the process.

  
  
All of us recognised the figure who just came out of the bag, the person who started it all… the person who trigger The Tragedy…   
“Everyone, meet your new classmate…. The Ultimate Despair herself… Mrs. Junko Enoshima! Puhuhuhu~” The bear posed like he was showing off a car on a game show.

  
  
None of us let any sound escape our lips, not even Byakuya. Our stunned silence clearly amused the gagged and bound Junko, as a large smile broke out across her face. 

  
  
Monokuma reached forward, removing the gag from her mouth and finally allowing her to speak. “Fiiiiiiiinally! How long were you planning on keeping me in there? I felt like I was gonna die!” She turned her head to face us all and her smile returned “Oh, come on! You didn’t really think I was dead, right?” Her constant wriggling forced Monokuma to untie her and she sprang up to her feet, turning to face Monokuma with a dramatic twist. “Might I just say, now that I can finally appreciate you up close, this really is a piss poor imitation. It looks like some kind of children’s craft project! The red eye is way too tilted, the black and white aren’t an exact even balance and you can’t even get the speech patterns right! Adding “Puhuhuhu~” into every sentence does  _ not  _ make you Monokuma!”

 

She slammed her heel down onto the bear and began twisting, her eyes clearly filled with more anger in an instant than any of us had ever seen before “You think imitation is funny, motherfucker?! I will destroy you! I will burn you! Tear you limb from limb! Cut you open and replace your insides with cheese! I will-” Just as quickly as her anger appeared, it fades and is replaced by a more calm and composed look. She removes her heel and takes a few steps back, pulling a pair of glasses out of her bra. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it? Wanted me to die just like my sister? Too bad. You’re forgetting that I’m the Ultimate Analyst, right?”   


  
Monokuma begins to laugh loudly at her question “You are?! I could have sworn that we removed that when we abducted you! Puhuhuhuhu~”   


  
Kyoko steps forward, arms crossed as she was clearly in thought. “We can deal with all of this later. What’s more important is how you managed to survive your execution. After all, everyone present in the first killing game  _ saw _ you get crushed.”   


  
Junko chuckled to herself as she whipped off the glasses and placed a crown on her head. “Well you see, my dear friend, what’s more despair inducing than not being able to die when your dreams have been crushed? It was quite simple really, we had shortened the conveyor belt slightly and timed it so that when the drop occurred, the hydraulic press fired at the exact moment, giving the illusion that we had violently died. As for the blood, we just used some of the bags from the infirmary and attached them to the press itself! We’re surprised you couldn’t figure something that simple for yourself, Mrs. Ultimate Detective… or has that title been taken now by that gothic wannabe over there?”   


  
Kyoko looked slightly dazed by that last comment, but shrugged it off, instead choosing to face Monokuma directly. “Okay, so that’s the surprise, right? But this is only fifteen. That’s enough for the killing game, sure, but if I know anything about killing games it's that they always try to one up themselves. There’s another surprise nearby, correct?”

 

“Ding ding ding! That’s correct!” Monokuma grinned, a chain suddenly appearing beside him from the ceiling. As the robotic bear pulled it, a large wooden crate would suddenly plummet from the ceiling, crushing the Monokuma unit and crumpling on impact.

 

“...Was that intentional?” Aoi asked, poking her chin quizzically. “Ugh, probably. That bear has killed itself more than enough times in the past…” Byakuya scoffed again, before getting shoved aside by Kazuichi. “Well, whatever! The next Monokuma hasn’t shown up yet, so let’s just bust this thing open!” The mechanic grinned, quickly grabbing a mangled rod of metal from the broken Monokuma and using it to wedge off the lid of the crate.

 

Upon doing so, however, Souda’s expression would quickly change from a wide grin to absolute fear, the mechanic leaping into Yasuhiro’s arms. “AAAAAAGH! I-IT’S A FUCKING GHOST!” Souda cries out, which only caused Yasuhiro to panic in turn. “O-Oh, shit, get me out of heeeeere!” The clairvoyant yelled out, throwing Souda to the floor before dashing back towards the gym entrance, smacking face-first into the locked doors and knocking himself out.

 

“...Admittedly, that  _ does _ make things quieter…” Sonia calmly noted, everyone slowly turning towards me. “Well, hopeman, what’re you waiting for? I-I ain’t scared of ghosts or nothin’, I just figure you should be the one to check it out!” Akane weakly explained, leaving me to sigh as I cautiously approached the crate.

 

As I looked inside, however, even I was taken aback by the sight. The contents resembled the body of a normal teenage girl at first, but closer inspection revealed a few glaring inconsistencies. For one thing, her skin was almost completely pale, with what seemed to be an odd, grey tint to it. At some of the joints in her body, various lines marked those points of movement. And, perhaps most shockingly…

 

“...This is Chiaki.” I quietly noted, although it didn’t take long for a commotion to break out among quite a few of the students. “But… That’s not possible…” Kyoko gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. “Her code was deleted in the Neo World Program… not to mention, that’s the only place she existed…!”

 

Before any more concerns could be raised, two students in particular suddenly shoved past me, namely Sonia and Hajime. The brown-haired boy could barely speak, seemingly in a state of shock, as the princess quickly lifted the girl out of the crate and kept the strange girl in a tight embrace. “Oh, Chiaki, it's so wonderful to see you back!” The princess happily exclaimed, before being interrupted by Himiko.

 

“Nyeh… not to ruin your fun or anything, but… doesn’t she seem a little dead?” The magician asked. Upon closer inspection, she did seem to be completely unresponsive, which caused a notable bit of worry in Sonia and Hajime. “Oh, don't mind that. I just forgot to charge her last night~!” Monokuma’s voice returned, dropping from the ceiling and landing on Souda’s unconscious body.

 

“Charged? Wait, what do you mean?” Hajime asked, prompting another laugh from Monokuma (and another sigh from Junko). “Weeeeeeell, we *did* manage to bring her out into the real world… of course, an A.I. can’t exist physically without some kind of casing, right?” The bear explained, holding out what resembled a phone charger in one hand. “I’ve got the cable for her right here, in fact… Of course, one of you will be in charge of taking care of her! Since we’re still in Hope’s Peak, there are still only fifteen dorms, of course. Therefore, one of you will have to share a roo-”

 

Before Monokuma could even finish his sentence, Sonia had already snatched the cable from his paws and held Chiaki at her side, quickly returning to the crowd afterwards. “Well then, glad to see everything’s decided! Oh, and one more little note… I’ve decided to prepare some proper uniforms for you guys this semester! You all should have more than enough in your rooms already, but if you ever need more, the storage room has plenty of surplus! Now, I hope you all get a very nice sleep! Your Killing School Reunion starts tomorrow, after all!” Monokuma laughed, before quickly disappearing from the gym, an audible *click* heard as the doors unlocked.

 

“Well, this was an eventful start…” Kyoko quietly noted, everyone slowly beginning to make their way towards the dorms. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Souda and Hagakure lending each other their shoulders as they came to, being the last ones to leave.

 

“Well, Junko? Don’t you have anything you want say to all of us?” Byakuya suddenly asked, all of us freezing in our tracks as we turned to look at him and Junko. “Let’s be real here. Among all of us, you’re the only one who’s been a mastermind. Twice, I might add.” The heir pointed out, prompting a haughty laugh from Junko. 

 

“Do you even hear yourself, you filthy knave? While we were indeed ruler of the first two killing games, we have no impact on how this one plays out!” The fashionista explained, before quickly removing her crown and pulling out a pair of glasses once again. “And besides all of that, it  _ is _ worth noting that Monokuma did not lie about my analyst abilities being extracted. Try as I might, I simply have no way of knowing how all of this will play out.” Junko continued, before putting away her glasses aside and beginning to drool.”And if I can’t tell what’s coming next then I can’t know what’ll happen and holy shit I might dieandohmygodthisissodespairful!” She suddenly exclaimed in a shrill voice, panting heavily as she dashed to her dorm.

 

“...Well.” Kyoko and Byakuya spoke together, the detective shaking her head as she returned to her dorm. “And what of you, then, Sonia? You seemed eager to take care of Chiaki. What if the mastermind reprogrammed her to be a murderous killing machine? Are you willing to take the risk of sleeping in the same room as her?” Byakuya asked with a raised eyebrow, Sonia quickly shaking her head. “Chiaki couldn’t possibly be like that! Besides, I plan to hold her close for the entire night as she charges!” The princess exclaimed, getting a disgusted groan from Byakuya. “...When you wake up with a blood-covered robot and a hole in your chest, don’t blame me.”

 

I let out a heavy sigh as I finally returned to my dorm, another familiar dread returning to me as I looked over the room. I swore, I could still smell the low-quality gold paint as I weakly fell into bed, passing out instantly.


	3. Chapter 1 - Change With The Times - Daily Life (Part 1)

I woke up to a familiar chime echoing throughout my room. _Ding Dong, Bing Bong~_ “Good morning everyone! It is now 7 a.m. and nighttime is OFFICIALLY over! Time to rise and shine!”

I sat up in my bed and looked around my room. “It was real…” I whispered to myself, climbing out of my bed. “Guess I’d better take a look around my room.”

I climbed out of bed without little effort, not wanting to get too comfortable, and began searching through my room. I started with the set of drawers next to my bed. On top of the drawers was a familiar, blue notepad with a pen attached. I began searching through the drawers, knowing exactly what I’d find. Alongside a few pairs of the new uniforms we were expected to wear, I opened the bottom drawer to discover the exact thing I was expecting.. “A toolkit… The mastermind really does want to stick to tradition. I should test something...”

I reached for the bathroom door, hands shaking as the images I’ve been trying so desperately to forget flash into the forefront of my mind. Unsurprisingly, I pulled the handle on the bathroom door to find that it gets stuck when I attempt to open it. “Just as I expected…” I sighed heavily, lifting the door up slightly and pulling it harder. The shape of the bathroom was the same as before, a shower taking up the majority of the room with the toilet to the side. I shut the door just as quickly as I opened it, refusing to look at that spot for any longer than I need to.

“I guess I’ll stick to tradition just as well… Better head to the cafeteria.” I quickly changed into my new uniform, taking note of the slightly awkward fit (as well as the room key in the pants pocket) as I walked towards the door, shrugging off the visions that clawed at my mind as I left my room.

* * *

The walk to the cafeteria was short, but felt like an eternity as I slowly dragged my feet across the floor. Opening the door of the cafeteria felt oddly nostalgic, especially once the sight that greeted me was something I grew used to during the first killing semester. Sitting at the central table was Aoi, Touko and Byakuya, alongside the new additions of Shuichi, Hajime and Sonia. Everyone was compliant with wearing their new uniforms, noticeably. Touko and Aoi were chatting happily, similar to Hajime and Sonia, where as Shuichi and Byakuya were separated from the main group.

“Good morning, everyone!” I said, with as cheery of a voice as I could muster. The replies I got were varied, ranging from a simple “Hello!” from Hajime and Sonia, a wave from Touko and Shuichi, an upbeat “Good morning!” from Aoi, and complete silence from Byakuya.

I sat down at the table, next to Touko and opposite from Hajime and Sonia, and get greeted by a quiet voice. “H-Hello Makoto, did you s-s-sleep well?” Touko stuttered, blushing slightly and twiddling her thumbs. “About as well as can be expected… What about you?” I asked innocently.

“I w-would have slept better, if it wasn’t for a certain s-someone.” She whispered, almost as if she expected someone unfavourable to listening in. “You mean Junko, right? I hadn’t really thought about it… I just can’t believe she’s alive..” The look on the faces on the people around us went from relaxed to unnerved at the mention of her name. ”F-From the looks of it, n-no one else had th-thought about it either…” She looked around the room nervously, surveying everyone. “C-Can we talk about s-something else now? I d-don’t want to think about her until I absolutely have to.” I looked at her with the most reassuring face I could muster, giving a relieved “Yeah!”

We chatted happily for about ten minutes or so about anything that came to mind, only stopping when the sound of the door opening interrupted us. Through the door marched the remainder of the survivors from the 78th class, the former remnants (including the newly created Robo-Chiaki) and, trailing far behind them, was Junko Enoshima herself. However, there was something… Off, about her. Her face was completely blank and empty, no emotion left in her eyes. In her hands she was clutching her E-Handbook. “Wh-Wh-Where did she g-g-get that?” Touko whispered to me, I merely shrugged in response.

“Upupupu!” As if on cue, we’d quickly hear Monokuma’s laugh yet again, the robot appearing from seemingly nowhere. “Well, I’ll admit I might have been able to do this a bit more organized, buuuuuuut… I’ve decided to prepare a special motive for everyone! Of course, you’ll all receive your E-Hanbooks in due time, but Miss Enoshima’s is a special case.” The bear explained. “Now, I’m still trying to decide what’d be best for some of you, and that might take another day or two… Try not to start murderin’ until you’re on equal playing grounds, got it?!” Monokuma demanded, before vanishing just as he’d appeared.

“...As much as I purely loathe to admit it, at least Enoshima as the mastermind had the decency to not make us wait.” Byakuya sighed, shaking his head. “W-Well, some g-go up to her and take the h-handbook so we can see what she has!” Touko suddenly suggested. Everyone seemed fairly cautious to actually approach the former mastermind, however, the tension being broken by a sigh from Souda. “Fine, fine, I-I guess I can check it out…” The mechanic gave an anxious chuckle, approaching Junko and carefully taking the E-Handbook from her hands.

A small crowd quickly formed around the mechanic once he retrieved the tablet, everyone anxious to see what had caused Junko to suddenly blank out. “Uh, I’m lookin’ through every file on here, and I don’t see anything weird… This may as well have been factory reset!” Souda explained, before a small commotion would start among everyone arguing over who could check the files.

Before a full-on-fight could break out, Monokuma would appear yet again, giving an exasperated sigh. “You guys really don’t get it, do you? Whatever it was that I gave her, it was one use! For her eyes only! A message to self-destruct in five seconds!” The bear explained, before a faint beeping could be heard. “Ehehe, speaking of which…” Before Monokuma had even finished his sentence, I had already ran to the opposite side of the cafeteria with nearly everyone else, leaving Souda to get knocked back into the wall from the sudden exploding Monokuma. 

“N-Not again…” The mechanic would complain with a pained moan, slowly standing up and brushing himself off. “A-Anyways, shouldn’t we still do something about Junko?!” Souda suddenly asked, pointing an accusatory finger at the fashionista. “I mean, doesn’t it seem weird to anyone else that she was the first one to get a motive, and that only she could see it?” He pointed out, Akane quickly stepping forwards as well. “Yeah, it’s real damn weird how this is going so far! Hey, Kazuichi! You’re good at tyin’ people up, right?” The gymnast asked, walking over to Junko and picking her up. “Help me lock ‘er up somewhere so she can’t start anything, and we’re golden, right?” Akane asked, getting an excited agreement from Souda. “Y-yeah, you’re right! Good plan, Akane!” The mechanic grinned, quickly leaving the cafeteria with the other two.

“Well, now that that’s dealt with…” Kyoko would place a hand on her chin, thinking for a moment. “Perhaps we’d do best to explore the premises a bit today? As Monokuma said, it’s likely that it’ll take a while for all of these supposed motives to be distributed. And if we assume that not being able to properly begin the game before all of them are given out is a hard rule… Today would be ideal to figure things out, correct?” The detective suggested, getting a swift agreement from me. “Y-Yeah, she’s right!”

“Then… I guess just splitting up and doing things on our own would be fine, yeah? Or at least, working in threes.” Shuichi suggested. “...I guess my class can stick together.” Maki noted, Himiko nodding slowly. “That works for me… I can barely finish breakfast anyways, it’s so bland… can’t a mastermind afford some pepper…?” The magician questioned.

“Oh! I will stay with Akane and Chiaki!” Sonia excitedly noted, quickly moving to the robot girl’s side. “I guess I can deal with Hajime and Souda.” Fuyuhiko commented.

“Alright, so that leaves just our class…” I quietly noted to myself. “So, what about… I stay with Kyoko and Byakuya, and Aoi, Touko, and Hagakure are a team?” I suggested, getting a few nods of approval. “Alright, then it’s settled! Let’s start looking around!” I exclaimed, leaving the cafeteria with everyone else as we began our exploration of the school.


	4. Chapter 1 - Change With The Times - Daily Life (Part 2)

Myself, Kyoko and Byakuya seized the opportunity to investigate the new addition to the first floor of the academy - the outside. We made our way through the halls quickly, not stopping to look in any of the rooms that, we assumed, were the exact same as the ones we had seen before. Once we approached the open, massive vault door that once encapsulated our semester of despair, we noticed that the outside looked much cleaner than before.

“Hey... doesn’t this seem a little... _too_ perfect?” I asked, my hand cupping my chin out of curiosity. “Hmm, I agree. It would appear as though the mastermind is trying to emulate a “perfect world”. Kyoko mused, being the first out of the three of us to actually step outside. Reluctantly, I followed her with Byakuya, and to our surprise, we saw a large forest that stretched out and wrapped around the academy, and a garden with an attached greenhouse. As we scanned the forest, we finally noticed a large patch of trees which had been completely removed, almost as if there was something hidden there.

“Hmph, where to first?” Byakuya said, his smug demeanor replaced with one of slight awe and amazement. “I would say… the forest? We may as well take the opportunity to explore it fully, as well as investigate that missing patch.” Kyoko suggested, pointing towards the clear entrance to the forest, a clearing in the trees with a dirt path running through it. We approached cautiously.

As we approached the forest, we noticed that further down the path were a few forks in the road, likely leading to other, smaller areas in the forest, two of them splitting off in opposite directions from the larger one down the center.

“So... Which one first? The left, right or the big patch?” I asked, walking forward slightly before turning to face the other two. “Does it matter? We’re going to end up going down them both anyway.” Byakuya scoffed before walking forward and to the left, forcing me and Kyoko to follow after him.

As we walked through the forest, Kyoko stopped and began staring at the trees in front of her. “Fascinating... The trees here are a mixture between three trees native to Japan… Cryptomeria Japonica, Ostrya Japonica and Sciadopitys Verticillata.” I stared at her in stunned silence, no matter how many times I’ve heard her analyze things like that, I’ve never gotten used to it. “Interesting... Now, we should catch up with Byakuya.” She didn’t even give me a second to respond before she turned and walked away. “...Wow.” I let out a sigh of amazement, before turning the corner.

The moment that I finished rounding the corner, I noticed a clean and pristine playground - the kind you’d find outside of a school. Except this playground, complete with a yellow slide, roundabout, climbing frame and swing set, was completely empty and devoid of life. On the ground was a poorly spray-painted Monokuma face, complete with an “Upupupu~” next to it.

“This is… haunting.” I whispered to myself. Being in that playground made my hairs stand on end. From the looks of it, Kyoko and Byakuya didn’t want to be there any longer than they had to be either, so all of us hurriedly turned around and walked towards the right path.

Rounding the corner this time, we saw a wooden cabin standing proudly in the center of this large, open clearing. A sign hung above it which read “Ranger’s Cabin” in large, block capitals. We all stood there, staring at the door nervously, before Kyoko stepped forward confidently and slowly turned the handle. She stood in front of the door for a second, before turning to us and saying “It’s locked.” This statement seemed to prompt some sort of response from the bear, as he dove out from behind a nearby tree and said, almost bashfully, “Yeah… I kinda haven’t made the keys yet! Sorry! By tonight they should be made, so just come here then~!” He walked into the treeline again, before turning and flashing his claws. “...That is, if you don’t value your own safety… Upupupu~”

“...We’re just gonna ignore that, right?” I asked, flashing Kyoko a worried look. “I think it would be wise not to come out here tonight... who knows what could happen.” The purple-haired detective responded, before turning and walking away again. “Come on, we should head back to the cafeteria and wait for the others.”

“What about the greenhouse?” I blurted out in response. Byakuya turned to me and flashed me a smug grin. “Hagakure will likely take care of it himself, later... we both know how much that bastard loves his _plants_.” We then ran after Kyoko, both of us snickering a bit.

* * *

As I re-entered the cafeteria with my two classmates, a couple of the other groups would have already returned as well, discussing some of their own findings. “Oh, hey Makoto!” Aoi would cheerfully call out upon seeing my group, the three of us sitting at the cafeteria table to talk to some of the others. “So, uh, did any of you guys find something interesting out there?” Hagakure asked, quickly getting a response from Kyoko. “Once we took the time to actually examine the exterior of the school, we found a rather densely wooded area. Splitting off from a clearing, there were two paths. One leading to what appeared to be a playground, and one leading to some sort of ranger’s cabin. The cabin was locked, sadly.” The detective explained.

“Did you guys find anything?” I decided to ask in turn, Hagakure interrupting the other two before they could respond. “Man, I don’t even know how, but it’s like a good chunk of the school got rearranged somehow!” The clairvoyant claimed, earning a raised eyebrow from both Byakuya and Kyoko. “Rearranged? Don’t be ridiculous.” The heir would reply, trying to brush aside the claim. “N-No… I-I can’t believe I’m saying this, b-but he’s right… T-The library, a-and the swimming pool… They’re on the f-first floor now.” Touko would elaborate. “I know, it’s insane, right? I mean, they’d have to carry at least four buckets of water to move that whole pool, right?” Hagakure asked. Rather than dignify him with a response, I’d quickly check up on the other group that was currently at the cafeteria.

The boys of the 77th class were all sitting together at the other end of the table, all looking fairly exhausted. “Oh, Makoto... Eh, nevermind, another person won’t do shit…” Fuyuhiko mumbled, causing me to raise an eyebrow. “Another person? What are you talking about?” I asked curiously, getting a tired sigh from Souda. “Well, since everyone else seemed to have an exploration niche pretty well filled, we figured we could try and do something about the gates locking off the upper floors. We tried pulling as hard as we could, using all kinds of stuff as a wedge… Nothing could break through.” The mechanic recapped, getting two tired nods from the Fuyuhiko and Hajime.

After having talked to the boys, Sonia’s group would suddenly arrive, Aoi noticeably turning away from them with a pout as they entered. “Hello, everyone!” The princess would happily declare their entrance, heading over to the cafeteria table and sitting opposite of Makoto. “As was suggested, we all did our best in exploring the school for finding anything unusual!... Unfortunately, not much was actually found.” The princess admitted, sighing softly. “There was this one weird-lookin’ wall, though… like someone decided to cover it up with a fresh layer of bricks before we all came here!” Akane would note, getting a nod from the other two.

“Oh, I almost forgot… We ended up running into Aoi’s group at the pool, and discovered that I’m waterproof… I have a light enough chassis to float, as well, although I think Sonia being able to carry me to her room was also evidence of that.” Chiaki explained. “Heh, and then we had you try and outswim Aoi to check out your new bod, right?” Akane grinned, the swimmer letting out an audible huff from a few seats over. “She could have at least been slow enough to not leave a crack in the pool tiles…”

Just as Aoi finished speaking, Saihara’s group would also arrive, meaning that everyone, sans Junko, was back at the cafeteria. Taking the remaining seats, they’d sit across from Byakuya and Kyoko, Shuichi beginning to recap what they’d found. “We took a quick look into the greenhouse outside the school... it looked pretty basic. There were rows upon rows of different kinds of flowers, some of which aren’t even native to Japan... We can go more in-depth later, I think.” The detective explained.

“Alright, that covers everything, right...?” I asked, getting a few nods of confirmation from the group. “Waitwaitwaitwait!” A familiar, annoying voice suddenly called out, Monokuma rushing into the cafeteria. “Ahem... While you all were out and about, I was able to distribute everyone’s E-Handbooks to their dorms! Now, most of you will still have to wait on those ‘special motives’ I promised, but they’ll get delivered before you can even say ‘Oh my god, it’s a dead body!’” The bear eagerly explained, disappearing once again.

“Alright… Now that everything seems to be properly settled… Are we all in agreement that we rest easy for the night?” Kyoko asked, getting a few murmurs of agreement. “Rest easy? How are we supposed to ‘rest easy’ when we’re still trying to get used to this sorta situation again?” Souda would ask, drawing a small smile from Kyoko.

"I don't think we'll have to be too concerned, if I'm being honest." Kyoko simply stated. "We've all been through this before, I'm sure we'll be fine to do this again. We've made sure Junko can't try anything. And, perhaps most importantly, we have the Ultimate Hope on our side, don't we?" The detective explained, a small, calm smile on her face as she looked to me.

"Y-Yeah, she's right!" I quickly chimed in. "We know exactly what the mastermind wants. But we've all done this before. We can get through this!"

"Still naive as always, Naegi..." Byakuya gave a small sigh, turning to leave. "I'll be returning to my dorm now. As for everyone else, I couldn’t care less what you do." The heir gave one final scoff, before leaving the cafeteria, the remaining students slowly beginning to pour out as well.

"Don't worry about him, Makoto. I'm positive we'll have everything figured out in no time." Kyoko quickly reassured me, before taking her leave, with myself following her behind.

As I returned to my room and flopped onto my bed, I nearly passed out in seconds from how much had already happened so far. A rearranged school, the looming threat of the ‘special motives’... I did my best to push the thoughts out of my head, taking quick note of the brand-new E-handbook on my dresser.

As I slowly allowed myself to fall asleep, I’d repeat Kyoko’s reassurances in my head.

We’d all survived this before.

We’d be smarter than the mastermind this time.

And most of all, we had myself to guide us. The Ultimate Hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally return after a bit of a hiatus with a new chapter! School is still a bit busy for the both of us, but we'll try to keep a better pace on new chapters from now on!


End file.
